New angle of Dodgers fans taunting Jurickson Profar helps explain NLDS drama

The debacle that played itself out in Dodger Stadium's left field seats on Sunday night won't be soon forgotten. It all started when Jurickson Profar, who the Dodgers infused with new life when Will Smith called him "irrelevant" at the beginning of the season, snatched a deep fly ball from the clutches of fans to rob a homer from Mookie Betts. Profar turned toward the fans and hopped a few times, seemingly engaged in a back-and-forth with them.

It was mostly smiles all around, and one Dodgers fan further up even tipped his cap to Profar. It was a nice play and the fans out there would probably get a little bit of flak for not snatching the ball first, but that should've been the end of it.

What ensued was a 15-minute on-field delay that brought almost the entire Padres dugout onto the field to confer with umpires. Two balls had been thrown back onto the field, and the Padres weren't having it. Fernando Tatis Jr. made matters worse by taunting the fans in right and was subsequently pelted with trash.

There are a lot of different angles of the incident floating around out there, but the newest may be the most damning for Dodgers fans. Profar can be seen handing Betts' robbed home run ball to a fan (in an ... Alex Vesia jersey) in the front row. The fan shook his head and immediately threw it back toward the infield to applause from the crowd.

A second ball followed from deeper in the crowd, and this time it landed much closer to Profar, which is where the trouble really started.

Dodgers-Padres NLDS Game 2 delay narrative continues to unfold with new footage

We wouldn't be the first or last to say that the Padres are absolutely infuriating. If you put Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. in a room together, that's a lot of fight and ego already. If you add a player who was slighted directly by the Dodgers and then went on to have the best season of his career in Profar, someone who will definitely earn MVP votes, that's a powder keg.

We also understand that this happens a lot in the outfield. If a fan gets a home run ball from a rival, they can get some pressure out there to throw it back. But come on, guys. Aren't we better than that? Shouldn't we be better than that?

A few rowdy fans doesn't make a bad fanbase, by any means, but no matter how you shake it, this is a bad look for the Dodgers and Dodgers fans. Even though we've been locked out of Petco Park for Games 3 and 4, if things come back home for Game 5, we need to pump the brakes on these kinds of shenanigans. Let the team do the talking on the field.